Featured Interview With Danielle Spencer
Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I was born in Washington, DC and was raised in Prince Georges (PG) County MD; I live there now without any pets. Growing up, my parents instilled in me the importance of faith, community, education and accountability. My father was a union shop steward and was active in the NAACP. From a very young age, not only was I taught to have a strong ethical and moral compass but, I was also involved in helping people fight for their rights.
I am the first generation in my family to graduate from college. I have a BS in Medical and Research Technology and two Master’s degrees, one in Information Systems and one in Business Administration. For the most part, my life has been very uneventful. However, that all changed in 2017, when I became a whistleblower against the federal government. While I can credit my educational background for giving me the knowledge to know that technologies and resources were being misused, it was my upbringing that gave me the courage to be a whistleblower. My upbringing gave me the unwavering belief and passion for doing and standing up for truth and justice.
At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
My parents instilled a love of reading in me at a young age. Not only where we frequent users of our public library, but we also participated in book drives throughout grade school, middle school and high school.
I started writing late in life, at the age of 49. I never thought of myself as a writer and didn’t have any aspirations to become one. However, in 2022, there were two incidents where fake documents were created: a fabricated traffic ticket and a title report with false information. I believe that these incidents were related to me being a whistleblower and were attempts to instill fear and to make me seem financially compromised. After these two incidents, I became concerned that more falsified documents or events were coming, in an effort to either cause me financial harm, damage my credibility, or to make me appear to be a criminal. Therefore, I worked on writing a book to document my whistleblower experiences.
Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
Since 2017, I haven’t had the luxury to do any pleasure reading. Prior to then, I loved reading thriller, crime drama or romance novels. Two of favorite writers are Mary Higgins Clark and Danielle Steele; I think I have read everything both of them have written. I’ve read works by quite a few other authors, but those are the only two authors that I purposely sought out.
My support circle, especially my parents inspire my writings. When I became a whistleblower, not only do I believe that I was affected but, so was my support circle – to include my parents, siblings, friends and co-workers, with my parents being impacted the worse. It was heartbreaking to see them experience what I believe was whistleblower retaliation because they are related to me. However, they never wavered; they continued to support me and encourage me to both find my voice and to continue to fight the injustice. Having that support inspires me to continue writing and to continue sharing my story and experiences.
Tell us a little about your latest book?
My latest book is called “Protecting Yourself: How Data Theft Can Impact You.” It is a nonfiction book that explains one of the themes covered in my Digital Assassins book series, Data Theft. In this book, I educate and bring awareness to the concept of Data Theft. People who read the book will learn what Data Theft is, why people commit Data Theft, how Data Theft can impact their life, and practical and easy-to-follow tips to protect themselves from Data Theft. I also provide examples, using screenshots of documents and text messages of when I believe I was the victim of Data Theft.
I believe this book is important because cybercrime is rising, data breaches are becoming more frequent and because governments have unprecedented access to and use of our data, to include knowledge of where any of us are at any given moment using cell phone location data. Therefore, I believe that understanding how to protect our privacy is no longer optional—it’s essential. Our personal data holds immense value, not just to us but to hackers, advertisers, organizations and governments. I believe this book equips its readers with the knowledge and tools to fight back, to take control of their privacy before it’s too late.
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